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“It was great to receive materials that focused exactly on my problem area.”
Judy Morris
ESL Teacher
East Texas Literacy Council
HEALTH LITERACY
Health Literacy Study Circles+ Facilitators Training Guide
Rudd, Rima, et al (Jan. 2007). Cambridge, MA: National Center for the Study of Adult Learning and Literacy. The purpose of this training guide is to help experienced professional developers and others organize and conduct a one-day session to train and orient those who will serve as facilitators of a NCSALL Health Literacy Study Circle+, which is a professional development activity for ABE, ASE, or ESOL practitioners. (See separate Clearinghouse Library title for the Study Circle+ materials.) This guide includes the information and materials you will need to conduct the training, but not background information on planning and facilitating training. Facilitators of the Health Literacy Study Circle+ Facilitators Training should be experienced trainers. Free copies are available to Texas educators ONLY. Paper may also be downloaded from the NCSALL website
Quick Guide to Health Literacy
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (2005). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. The Quick Guide to Health Literacy is for government employees, grantees and contractors, and community partners working in healthcare and public health fields. It contains: a basic overview of key health literacy concepts; techniques for improving health literacy through communication, navigation, knowledge-building, and advocacy; examples of health literacy best practices; and suggestions for addressing health literacy in your organization. These tools can be applied to healthcare delivery, policy, administration, communication, and education activities aimed at the public. They also can be incorporated into mission, planning, and evaluation at the organizational level. For those new to health literacy, the toolkit will provide information needed to become an effective advocate for improved health literacy. For those already familiar with the topic, the guide provides user-friendly, action-oriented materials that can be easily referenced, reproduced, and shared with colleagues.
WORKFORCE/WORKPLACE LITERACY
LEP Guide for Workforce Professionals
Texas Workforce Solutions (2007). Austin, TX: Texas Workforce Commission. This resource is designed to assist Workforce Boards, workforce center staff, and training and adult education agencies in providing appropriate and effective services to Texas’ rapidly growing limited English proficient (LEP) workforce. Increasingly, businesses are looking for
strategies to recruit and train workers from this growing workforce. The guide covers dozens of topics including: effective intake and case management strategies for LEP customers; comprehensive assessment strategies and a review of available assessment tests for LEP customers; strategies for introducing female LEP customers to nontraditional occupations and entrepreneurial opportunities; and a balanced scorecard review tool that allows Boards to evaluate the capacity and effectiveness of local training services for LEP customers. Free copies are available to Texas educators ONLY. Paper may also be downloaded from the TWC website
The State of Working Texas 2007
Center for Public Policy Priorities (September 2). Austin, TX: Center for Public Policy Priorities. In this annual Labor Day report on the status of the Texas economy and workforce, CPPP draws from various federal and state data sources, with assistance from the Economic Policy Institute. This report analyzes trends in unemployment, wages, and demographics, along with other issues that affect working Texans. On a positive note, unemployment has declined considerably, the gender wage gap has narrowed, and a smaller share of workers is earning poverty wages. On the negative side, Texas continues to lag far behind the nation and even the region on several key indicators, including educational attainment, health insurance, and wage growth.
The Work Readiness Credential Profile
EFF Center for Training and Technical Assistance (2005). Knoxville, TN: Center for Literacy Studies, University of Tennessee. The Equipped for the Future (EFF) Work Readiness Profile defines a cross-industry foundation of knowledge, skills and abilities that new workers need to succeed in entry-level jobs across industries. Front line supervisors from businesses across the country helped develop this profile. The profile identifies four categories of essential skills: communication, interpersonal, decision-making, and lifelong learning skills, as well as the critical entry-level tasks that require use of those skills.
Higher Skills, Bottom-Line Results: A Chamber Guide to Improving Workplace Literacy
Center for Workforce Preparation (2003). Washington, DC: U.S. Chamber of Commerce. This guide is part of a Literacy Toolkit developed by the Center for Workforce Preparation in collaboration with the National Institute for Literacy and VerizonSuperPages.com. The Toolkit presents a strong case for businesses and other community stakeholders to become advocates for workplace education programs and initiatives in their communities, thereby assisting adult learners in gaining the basic skills they need to become productive workers.
FAMILY LITERACY
The Importance of Social Interaction and Support for Women Learners: Evidence from Family Literacy Programs
Prins, Esther, Toso, Blaire Willson, and Schafft, Kai (May 2008). University Park, PA: Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy, Pennsylvania State University. “Although many women value and benefit from social interaction in adult education and family literacy, these social dimensions are often treated as tangential or inconsequential. Utilizing data from two studies of family literacy programs in Pennsylvania, this study examined how family literacy programs provide a supportive social space for women in poverty. We found that many learners had limited social support and social ties with people outside their program and few opportunities for recreation. As such, family literacy programs fulfilled important social functions by enabling women to leave the house, enjoy social contact and support, engage in informal counseling, pursue self-discovery and development, and establish supportive relationships with teachers. In sum, adult education and family literacy programs play an important role in helping women in poverty receive social support and, in turn, enhance their psychosocial well-being.” -- Key Findings section of the Research Brief.
Parenting for Literacy Development and Educational Success: An Examination of the Parent Education Profile
Prins, Esther and Toso, Blaire Willson (May 2008).
University Park, PA: Goodling Institute for Research in Family Literacy, Pennsylvania State University. “The Parent Education Profile (PEP) is an instrument that rates parents’ support for children’s literacy development. This study examined how the PEP portrays the ideal parent, its assumptions about parenting and education, and the values and ideals it promotes. In sum, many aspects of the PEP evaluate parents by the mainstream (White, middle-class) parenting style. Although the PEP uses the language of scientific research to support this model, it presents no information about reliability or validity. The PEP tends to assume that a universal set of parenting practices best supports children’s literacy development, without fully considering cultural and economic differences. It also implies that parents, particularly mothers, are mainly responsible for their children’s academic success. In order to follow some of the PEP practices, parents need access to resources often unavailable to poor families; yet, the PEP does not seem to encourage recognition of mitigating circumstances (e.g., poverty) that might lower parents’ ratings. Finally, while the PEP encourages staff to ask for parents’ perspectives, it gives parents little say in assessing themselves. In conclusion, caution and cultural sensitivity are needed when using instruments that prescribe, monitor, and rate parental support for education and literacy.” -- Key Findings section of the Research Brief.
The Financial Psychology of Worry and Women
Ricciardi, Victor (February 2008). Lexington, KY: Kentucky State University / Social Science Research Network. This paper provides a review of significant academic studies and non-academic research endeavors in the realm of negative emotions, gender, and decision making. The author encourages behavioral finance researchers to place greater attention into the development of new research studies and academic papers in the area of negative affect. The financial psychology literature on gender and worry documents the emerging hypothesis that researchers should explore as women reveal greater degrees of worry than their male counterparts for different categories of financial services and investment products.
Promoting Effective Early Learning: What Every Policymaker and Educator Should Know
Klein, Lisa G. and Knitzer, Jane (January 2007). New York, NY: National Center for Children in Poverty, Columbia University. This brief provides a blueprint for state and local policymakers, early learning administrators, teachers, families, community leaders, and researchers to use effective preschool curricula and teaching strategies to help low-income young children close the achievement gap in early literacy and math to be ready for kindergarten like their more affluent peers. New research shows that an intentional curriculum and professional development and supports for teachers are important components of effective preschool classrooms and programs. A special focus on these strategies is important because many low-income children in early learning settings fall behind early and remain very much behind their peers in reading and math.
Starting Off Right: Promoting Child Development from Birth in State Early Care and Education Initiatives
Schumacher, Rachel and Hamm, Katie, et al (July 2006).
Washington, DC: Center for Law and Social Policy. State early care and education policies that start at birth and address the full range of children’s development can potentially identify health and developmental issues, link families to necessary supports, and assure that those who care for infants and toddlers have the tools to stimulate early learning and development and ease transitions into the preschool and elementary years. This paper describes a menu of state strategies to improve early care and education for infants and toddlers, and supports to their families, including: examples of specific policies to promote child development birth to 3, as well as ideas for state funding and governance structures that provide attention and resources for all children birth to age 5. Free copies are available to Texas educators ONLY. Paper may also be downloaded from the CLASP website
